Watch out dragons... Here be Aaron!

Aaron Gray and the Dragon War Is now available as a book and ebook.

Aaron is a brat, which is understandable after everything he's been through. He also sees dragons when he hums, which isn't understandable by anyone, ever. He soon gets sucked into the dragons' dangerous war, where his only defences are his embarrassingly magical fingernails, and a fierce, ten-year-old girl.

Wednesday, 2 August 2017

Your questions answered!

I've not done this before but I seem to have accumulated some serious questions that need answering. For example here is the first of a series of questions from the lovely Abbii:

What's the social service system in Breveny like? I always wonder about bureaucratic systems in fantasy worlds. Especially with Aaron being in the care system. Like you get a lot of prejudices about children in the system here, what would the preconceptions of people in Breveny be like? Do different species manage their own bureaucratic systems or are they all organised by the dragons. Are there like, foster homes with a huge variety of humans and fantastic creatures or are they kept separate?

Dav

Abbii I'll try to answer as thoroughly as I can. This question is less spoilery to answer than your other questions, so it's a good one to start with. So here goes...

System? What System?

There's no big, formal, social care system in Breveny. If there were, then, on arrival, Alec would have immediately contacted the authorities and the two kids would have been placed in an emergency foster placement. Jack, meanwhile would have been picked up by the Missing Children's team and placed in a secure unit until he was assessed not to be at risk of running away again. Cecil would have been arrested under child labour laws for attempting to send the children on a quest, and the story would have been very different.

But there is community...

Breveny is the kind of place where stuff gets done. A whole village is at risk from warring dragons, so the whole village moves underground. Everybody works together and takes care of each other. In its extreme you can see this at Calmat, where everyone is given jobs to do under the leadership of one person. However even without this leadership you can see similar community in action, like when Mel invites the children to stay with her, saying with confidence that she could find other families in the village to look after them more permanently.

...and there's dragons.

We are getting into book two territory here, so I'll be careful. The dragons are in charge. Other creatures "pay them tribute" which usually means giving them food and gifts and doing what they're told. There are ways that the dragons earn their tributes but I'm not giving anything away. It's unlikely that a dragon would intervene to the extent of say, finding a family for an orphan child, as the communities will usually handle these themselves.

But what about the other creatures?

Well let's not pretend they all live together in harmony. Even in book one, things are tense. Each type of creature has their own traditions and cultures and they will proudly keep those traditions. Generally each creature will look after their own kind, which is why places like Calmat are so unusual and interesting.

But the dragons are definitely in charge.

There's no hierarchy within the other creatures apart from the dragons. For example the humans aren't any more or less important than the keythongs. Everyone is technically equal, even if everyone thinks mud-elves are gross and that piskies are stupid!